Reduction of Prejudice

"Modeling Prejudice Reduction: Spatialized Game Theory and the Contact Hypothesis" forthcoming in Public Affairs Quarterly, University of Illinois Press.

"Reducing Prejudice: A Spatialized Game-Theoretic Model for the Contact Hypothesis" from Artificial Life IX (2004), MIT Press. [PDF]

Software

These are all interactive programs for the contact hypothesis results.
This allows for a great deal of experimentation, including:
Different sets of initial strategies
Different background arrangements: mixed by color or segregated
Different game-theoretic payoffs
In each case you can watch the dynamics of prejudicial and non-prejudicial strategies
across the array.

JAVA

Java Applet that has eight color-blind strategies plus prejudicial tit-for-tat (plays tit for tat with its own fixed "kind" and defects against others). If your computer has trouble running the java applet and you have Microsoft Windows, then try the Windows programs below.

MS WINDOWS (Win9x, 2000, XP)

To run any of these programs, you first have to download glut32.dll and place it in the same folder, and you will also need to set your screen resolution to at least 1024 by 768 pixels (right-click anywhere on the emptiness of your desktop, choose "Properties" and click the "Settings" tab in the upper-right corner; in the right-bottom corner you will find a slider that changes your "screen area" aka resolution).

[ptft.exe] has eight color-blind strategies plus prejudicial tit-for-tat (plays tit for tat with its own fixed "kind" and defects against others).
[ptft64.exe] has all 64 possible combination of color-discriminating Markov strategies.

Instructions for using the Windows programs:

Different sets of initial strategies: Click on the strategy description you want to
eliminate from the set. Its name will turn grey and it will no longer appear on 'restart'.

Different background arrangements: 'C' toggles between segregated and mixed environments

Different game-theoretic payoffs: Click on the matrix to set new options.

Toggling with the indicated capital letters allows you to set different speeds,
tao set whether PTFT gets an additional 'social identification' point when playing
its own color, and whether you are viewing background colors or behavioral strategies.

Different patterns of strategies can also be set by 'painting' them into the initial
configuration.

NOTE: If you want to transport this program to another directory, be sure to put
'glut32.dll' in the same directory. The program will not operate without that.

Should you be interested in pursuing research in these or related directions, let us know.
We'll be happy to provide help and source code.

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